Defend the Defenders’ Latest Statistics: Vietnam Holds 276 Prisoners of Conscience

Defend the Defenders, Press Release, July 3, 2020

For immediate release

According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, as of June 30, 2020, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding at least 276 prisoners of conscience in prisons or other forms of detention. The number does not include Mr. Ngo Hao (m) who is in sentence suspension for medical treatment and Nguyen Trung Linh (m) and Le Anh Hung (m) who are forcibly committed in mental hospitals without judicial process. The list includes female activist Huynh Thuc Vy who is convicted and sentenced but under house arrest in maternal period, American citizen Michael Minh Phuong Nguyen (m) convicted of conducting “attempts to overthrow the government” under Article 109 of the country’s 2015 Criminal Code, and Australian citizen Chau Van Kham (m) found guilty of terrorism under Article 113 of the code.

Thirty-five of the prisoners of conscience identified by Defend the Defenders are women human rights defenders (WHRDs).

In total, 206 people, or 74.6% of the list, are ethnic Kinh. The second-largest ethnic grouping on the list is Montagnards, a loose set of religious and ethnic minorities who live in the mountains of the Central Highlands. They account for 62 people or 22.5% of those on the list. Six from Hmong and two on the list are Khmer Krom.

Bloggers, lawyers, unionists, land rights activists, political dissidents, and followers of non-registered minority religions have been arrested and detained for peacefully exercising their internationally and constitutionally protected rights, principally the right to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of religion or belief. The list does not include individuals who have engaged in or advocated violence.

Vietnam still holds 63 activists in pre-trial detention, 16 of them were arrested in 2018-2019 and the remaining 47 were arrested in 2020. Among them is prominent independent journalist Pham Chi Dung (m), who is the president of the unregistered Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) and its Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy (m) and well-known political blogger Pham Chi Thanh (aka Pham Thanh- m).

The above includes 213 who have been convicted – mostly of political crimes under Articles 79, 87 and 88 of the1999 Penal Code or Article 109, 117 and 331 in the 2015 Criminal Code:

– 49 activists convicted or charged with subversion (Article 79 of 1999 Penal Code or Article 109 in the 2015 Criminal Code);

– 35 activists convicted and 13 charged with anti-state propaganda (Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code);

– 56 people from ethnic minorities were convicted of undermining the national unity policy (Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code or 116 of the 2015 Criminal Code);

– 15 activists were convicted or charged with “abusing democratic freedom” (Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code);

– 13 activists were charged with “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the 2015 Criminal Code;

– 48 individuals were convicted of or charged with “disrupting public orders” (under Article 245 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 318 of the 2015 Criminal Code) for their peaceful activities. Thirty-five of them were imprisoned for participating or being suspected of planning to participate in the mass demonstrations in mid-June 2018 and their aftermath;

– Three activists Chau Van Kham (male, Vietnamese Australian), Nguyen Van Vien (m), and Tran Van Quyen (m) were convicted of “terrorism” under Article 113 of the 2015 Criminal Code.

– The charges for 13 individuals are unknown, including three Montagaards followers of the Ha Mon sect arrested on March 19 this year.

Background

After arresting more than 40 activists and bloggers and convicting around 40 political dissidents last year, Vietnam’s communist regime continues its crackdown on local political dissidents and social activists in a bid to ensure “social stability” while the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam prepares for its 13th National Congress scheduled for January 2021.

After Vietnam’s government and the European Union signed the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in Hanoi in late June 2019, the European Parliament ratified the pact in February this year although a number of international and Vietnamese rights and professional groups, including Defend the Defenders, urged its members to carefully consider and not rush to adopt the agreement before Vietnam’s communist regime shows concrete improvements in human right in the country.

In the early days of the year, the Covid-19 pandemic broke in China and around the world, causing millions of infections and more than 500,000 deaths worldwide. In many countries, including Vietnam, people have been requested to keep social distance while businesses and administrative agencies have been closed at certain times, and some localities have been placed under lockdown for long periods.

In order to take full control of media regarding Coronavirus, Vietnam’s communist regime has been tightening supervision of the state-controlled media and launched a crackdown on social networks, especially Facebook which has around 60 million active daily users in Vietnam. In January-April, authorities in a number of cities and provinces interrogated hundreds of local Facebookers for their posts regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Ministry of Public Security, more than 300 Facebookers were punished with administrative fines of between VND7.5 million ($320) and VND15 million by mid-March and the number of harassed and intimidated Facebookers increased after that.

In early January, the Ministry of Public Security sent thousands of riot policemen to Dong Tam commune, My Duc district, Hanoi where land disputes have not been settled since 2017. In the early hours of January 9, police attacked the private residence of 84-year-old community leader Le Dinh Kinh, killing him, and arresting more than 30 of his relatives and neighbors. Police have accused 25 of them of causing the death of three police officers during the raid. Four of them have been forced to make confessions which were aired on Vietnam’s central television channel VTV four days later. Their coerced confessions were detailed, together with 12 other cases in Coerced on Camera: Vietnam’s Televised Forced Confessions, a report by human rights organization Safeguard Defenders, the first of its kind report regarding Vietnamese police’s treatment against detainees.

As the US, the EU and other countries are focusing on their own problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam’s communist regime seems to use the opportunity to intensify its crackdown on local dissent without being criticized by the international community. The persecution has peaked in recent months with the arrests of a dozen of activists and charge them with controversial articles of the national security provisions in Criminal Code.

Arrest in January-June 2020

Between January 1 and June 30, Vietnam arrested 21 activists and 29 land petitioners in Dong Tam commune. As many as 12 activists were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code for their writings and giving interviews to foreign media as well as reporting human rights violations to foreign diplomats.

Among detainees are two members of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy (m) and Le Huu Minh Tuan (m), well-known blogger Pham Chi Thanh (penname Pham Thanh), as well as environmentalist Dinh Thi Thu Thuy (f) from the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang. Mr. Thuy, 68, and Mr. Tuan, 31, are being investigated in the same case of “conducting anti-state propaganda” with IJAVN’s President Pham Chi Dung (m), who was arrested in November last year. Pham Chi Dung’s arrest was in part reprisal for his advocacy with the European Union to postpone the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

On June 24, Vietnam’s security forces detained six human rights defenders under Article 117, including former prisoner of conscience Can Thi Theu (f) and her two sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu as well as their neighbor Nguyen Thi Tam (female Facebooker Tam Duong Noi) for their support of Dong Tam land petitioners. Chung Hoang Chuong (m), who also covered news on the police massacre in Dong Tam in early January was also arrested and charged with “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.

Police also arrested veteran communist army officer Tran Duc Thach (m)- a member of the unsanctioned group Brotherhood for Democracy, and charged the 68-year-old activist with subversion under Article 109 of the Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, Facebooker Ma Phung Ngoc Phu (f) was arrested and charged with the same allegation under Article 331 for disseminating news on the Coronavirus outbreak in the Mekong Delta’s economic hub of Can Tho.

Three Montagnards followers of Ha Mon sect named Ju, Lup, and Kunh, all male, were arrested on March 19 after eight years in hiding. They may be charged with “undermining the national unity policy” with lengthy imprisonment if they are convicted.

Convictions in January-June

In the first half of 2020, Vietnam’s communist regime was planning to carry out the first-instance hearing against eight members of the unregistered group Hiến Pháp (Constitution) named Tran Thi Ngoc Hanh (f), Hoang Thi Thu Vang (f), Ngo Van Dung (m), Doan Thi Hong (f), Tran Thanh Phuong (m), Le Quy Loc (m), Do The Hoa (m) and Ho Van Cuong (m) who were arrested in early September 2018 and charged with “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the Penal Code. However, the trial was suspended due to the spread of COVID-19 in Ho Chi Minh City. After the removal of lockdown, the trial has not been re-scheduled for unknown reasons.

However, the communist regime still convicted six activists to a total 18 years in prison and three years of probation. Nguyen Van Nghiem (m) and Phan Cong Hai (m) were sentenced to six and five years in prison respectively for “conducting anti-state propaganda” for their Facebook posts while Chung Hoang Chuong (m) and Ma Phung Ngoc Phu (f) were sentenced to 18 months and nine months in jail after being convicted of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 also for their Facebook postings. The remaining two convicted are Dang Thi Hue (m) and Bui Manh Tien (m) for their anti-corruption efforts against illegal collection of road fees by BOT toll-booth facilities which are likely supported by senior officials of the regime. The duo was sentenced to 42 and 15 months in prison by the People’s Court of Son Son district in early May.

The Higher People’s Court in Hanoi has upheld on appeal the sentences of 11 years in prison and five years of probation given to human rights defender Nguyen Nang Tinh (m) on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” by the People’s Court of Nghe An province in the first-instance hearing in mid-November last year.

Authorities in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong plan to hold the first-instance hearing on July 7 to try local Facebooker Nguyen Quoc Duc Vuong (m) on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” for his online activities.

Authorities in the capital city of Hanoi are going to hold the trial against 29 land petitioners from Dong Tam who were arrested during the police attack to the commune on January 9 this year. As many as 25 of them were accused of murdering three police officers. In their investigation conclusion, the Hanoi police said the three police officers were burned by gasoline by the villagers without providing specific evidence surrounding their deaths or publicizing unfounded stories about the circumstances in which they had been murdered. The four remaining were accused of “resisting on-duty state officials.” A number of land petitioners are at risk of capital punishment while others will likely be sentenced to heavy imprisonment as the communist regime has not tolerated any opposition from the land petitioners who took around 40 police officers in hostage in 2017 when they were deployed to the commune to settle land disputes. There has been no independent investigation into the incidents surrounding the deaths of the police officers nor broader human rights concerns, including the extrajudicial killing of community leader Le Dinh Kinh.

Mistreatment in prison

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security continues its policy to keep prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience, under hard living conditions in a bid to punish them for their non-violent activities but harmful for the communist regime and break their mental strength. Along with sending prisoners of conscience to prisons far from their families, it allows authorities in prisons to apply other psychological measures to make the life of jailed activists harder, such as denying them of their rights to regular meetings with their families, receiving additional food and medicines from their relatives, or forcing them to work hard without proper protective equipment. It also puts added psychological and financial trauma on the family members.

In mid-April, police reportedly assaulted prisoners of conscience Ngo Van Dung (m) and Le Quy Loc (m), who were kept in Phan Dang Luu temporary detention facility under the authority of Ho Chi Minh City Police Department. Due to the severe injuries caused by the attacks, the two were hospitalized for treatment for a week. After that, Mr. Loc was returned to the facility while Mr. Dung was transferred to Chi Hoa temporary detention facility also under the authority of the city’s police.

In early January, authorities in Ba Sao Prison camp in the northern province of Ha Nam held Phan Kim Khanh (m) and Nguyen Viet Dung (m) in solitary confinement cells for weeks in revenge for their protest against inhumane treatment in prison. The United Nations Human Rights Council and Special Rapporteur on Torture hold that prolonged solitary confinement constitutes torture.

Detained activist Doan Thi Hong (f) told her family that she was held in severe living conditions in a temporary detention facility under the authority of Ho Chi Minh City’s Police Department during the investigation period as well as during pre-trial detention. Hong, a single mother, was arrested in early September 2018 when her daughter was less than three years old, was charged with “disruption of security” and faces imprisonment of between three and seven years if she is convicted.

The family of human rights activist Nguyen Van Duc Do reported that authorities in Xuan Loc prison camp in the southern province of Dong Nai beat him and served him food mixed with human waste. He was reportedly tortured by prison guards after he requested time on weekends to sunbathe.

In recent months, as COVID-19 is spreading across the nation, authorities in Vietnam’s prison camps and temporary detention facilities have not allowed the families and relatives of prisoners of conscience to meet them or provide them with additional food and medicine, as well as other essential items. Given the low-quality of food, health and hygiene concerns in prisons, the lives of prisoners of conscience are often under serious threat.

On March 24, CIVICUS, a South Africa-based global alliance of civil society organizations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world, issued a press release calling on authoritarian regimes, including Vietnam, to “Release all human rights defenders and political prisoners who were imprisoned for their human rights activities, or for expressing views contrary to those of the state” as COVID-19 is spreading fast globally.

One day later, on March 25, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on governments to take urgent action to protect the health and safety of people in detention and other closed facilities, as part of overall efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In many countries, detention facilities are overcrowded, in some cases dangerously so. People are often held in unhygienic conditions and health services are inadequate or even non-existent. Physical distancing and self-isolation in such conditions are practically impossible,” she said in the press release.

“Governments are facing huge demands on resources in this crisis and are having to make difficult decisions. But I urge them not to forget those behind bars, or those confined in places such as closed mental health facilities, nursing homes, and orphanages because the consequences of neglecting them are potentially catastrophic,” the High Commissioner said.

“Now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views,” Bachelet stressed.

So far, Vietnam’s regime has only suspended the imprisonment of Ngo Hao (m) to allow him to return home for medical treatment. The 72-year-old activist, who was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to 15 years on the charge of subversion, is suffering from severe diseases due to bad living conditions and lacks proper medical treatment in prison.

Along with persecuting prisoners of conscience, authorities in some localities also harass their families. In late June, authorities in Quang Xuong district, Thanh Hoa province placed the family of prisoner of conscience Nguyen Trung Ton (m) under house arrest to prevent them from contacting the US Ambassador when he visited the locality. Plainclothes agents caused trouble for his wife while she was selling groceries in a local wet market and attacked his son when he tried to go out to protect her. Due to the police blockade, the son failed to go to an interview for a new job.

Release from prison in January-June

In late February, Christian Montagnard Y Ngun Knul (m) was released after spending the last 16 years in prison. He was arrested in 2004 and later sentenced to 18 years in prison on the charge of “undermining the unity policy.” He had a number of health problems as a result of long inhumane treatment in different prisons and died a few months after being released.

There 12 other prisoners of conscience whose imprisonment terms ended between April and June but Defend the Defenders has no information which would confirm their release. However, Defend the Defenders still excludes their names from this list.

Defend the Defenders is concerned that authorities in Hanoi are keeping two activists Nguyen Trung Linh and Le Anh Hung in a local mental facility after investigating them on the respective allegations of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and “abusing democratic freedom” for months, over a year in the case of Le Anh Hung, without any judicial process. The two activists were subjected to forced medication, which constitutes torture under international law.

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The term “prisoner of conscience” (POC) was coined by Peter Benenson in the 1960s. It refers to any individual “imprisoned for his/her political, religious or conscientiously held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or another status who have not used violence or advocated violence or hatred.”

Defend the Defenders is Vietnam’s independent non-profit organization working to promote human and civil rights in the Southeast Asian nation. It has a network of dozens of human rights defenders across the nation who report human rights abuse in their areas.

Appendix: List of prisoners of conscience as of June 30, 2020

Appendix 2: List of released PoCs in Jan-June